"Untitled", 1983

Since the 1960s Rückriem, who completed an apprenticeship as a stone mason, has been widely acclaimed as an important proponent of minimalism. With his renunciation of representation, he greatly influenced modern sculpture. His themes are the volume of the stone and its interaction of the surrounding space. His sculptures distinctly - and intentionally - show the traces of the sculpting process. Rückriem developed an individual technique, which places the emphasis on the working material and the working process, by doubling, dividing and reducing the materia. He often cuts blocks of stone into parts, which he then combine again to form new shapes, as is the case in the present work. In 1978 Rückriem participated in the Venice Biennale with four split dolomite stones. Many of his works are installed in public places in Germany.